FLYING Magazine
FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford said Tuesday that he wanted to “correct the record” on a recent Government Accountability Office (GAO) report that alleged the agency’s air traffic control modernization effort may face cost overruns, schedule delays, and unmet goals.
The GAO report, published Monday, claimed that the FAA lacks a lifecycle cost estimate or master schedule for its Brand New ATC System (BNATCS) program. Over two phases, BNATCS seeks to replace outdated, decades-old infrastructure and introduce new automated capabilities to improve safety and efficiency in the National Airspace System (NAS).
Though the FAA has attempted to modernize the ATC system since the 1980s—the latest effort being the NextGen initiative—the GAO in 2024 deemed over 75 percent of the agency’s 138 ATC systems to be partially or fully “unsustainable.”
Without a lifecycle cost estimate or master schedule for BNATCS, the GAO predicted the new push could go the way of NextGen, which it found delivered only 16 percent of its promised benefits after 20 years and $36 billion spent. The agency said this “could end up causing air traffic disruptions or prolonging reliance on severely outdated systems.”
“If these risks are realized, FAA would need to continue to rely on severely outdated systems that are prone to failure leading to more flight delays and safety incidents,” according to a summary of the report.
However, Bedford told the House Appropriations Committee’s subcommittee on Transportation, Housing, and Urban Development on Tuesday that the FAA after reviewing the report has a “couple of issues we don’t necessarily concur with.”
“We do have lifecycle cost estimates for the entirety of the project, and we do have a highly integrated master work schedule,” he said. “So perhaps we need to get them back in and go through this one more time.”
Still, Bedford said the FAA expects to “overspend” the $12.5 billion that Congress in 2025 allocated for BNATCS’ first phase, which the agency aims to complete by the end of 2028. He added that “some of the slipping that we’re seeing…looks like it may put pressure on delivering that schedule.”
Dissecting BNATCS
Launched in May 2025, Phase 1 of BNATCS seeks to replace or upgrade thousands of radios, radars, voice switches, facilities, and other infrastructure.
Phase 2 will focus on adding new capabilities, such as an AI-powered Strategic Monitoring of Airspace Routes and Trajectories (SMART) system that is designed to use data, including ADS-B, to ease NAS disruptions through predictive power. Reuters last week reported that the FAA plans to begin rolling out SMART in September.
The GAO found that the agency “has made progress implementing this initiative, but it could be prioritizing speed over costs and air traffic disruptions.” Bedford on Tuesday said the FAA is “delivering in record time” and touted some of the effort’s progress, including upgrading 64 percent of telecommunications connections from copper wiring to fiber, satellite, or wireless.
However, the GAO said BNATCS’ 11,389 individual project schedules are not integrated. Its report found that some of these projects are scheduled for installation at the same sites, “generally without optimizing the schedules to reduce impacts to controller operations.”
The agency said the FAA has not yet provided a timeframe for when that issue could be resolved. Bedford said the agency’s master schedule is being “run through” lead contractor Peraton’s “agentic AI systems” to assess how resequencing the projects might affect timelines.
In addition, the GAO report said the FAA in June provided “high-level [cost] estimates per program for Phase 1” of BNATCS, but it did not share analysis to support these figures. It added that the estimates do not include government costs, as well as “most of the operations costs for Phase 1, or any of the costs for Phase 2.”
There is no estimated start or completion date for Phase 2, which the FAA said will require at least another $10 billion, per GAO.
The agency recommended the FAA develop a lifecycle cost estimate and master schedule for Phase 1 in accordance with its best practices.
Addressing program costs, Bedford said the FAA “just didn’t get the funding that we requested” from Congress in 2025. He said the agency is drawing from its facilities and equipment account to cover cost overruns on Congress’ $12.5 billion allocation, which came up short of the $15-16 billion it had requested.
“I actually think the original cost estimates that we brought Congress were pretty darn accurate,” he said. “Guess what? It’s costing $16 billion to do Phase 1, and we’re funding that gap.”
Bedford also called the report a “wonderful document” and encouraged the House committee members to read it so they could better understand the challenge the FAA is facing.
“We asked [GAO] to come in and start this process, so we want transparency,” Bedford said. “We want accountability. So I am grateful that they came in early on this process and started this effort.”
The administrator warned that Congress’ failure to fund remaining portions of BNATCS could “see the [National Airspace] System slip into higher delays, higher cancelations, and a less resilient airspace.”